Top 10 Countries with the Most Intelligent People

The Top Ten
1 India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy in the world. Its capital is New Delhi. Some other major cities are Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahemdabad... read more

India is known for its remarkable contributions in various fields. It was home to the first discoverers of the laws of algebra, geometry, calculus, and the binary number system. Indians were also the first to successfully carry out cataract and plastic surgery. They are recognized as the highest paid ethnic group in the United States, and they are among the smartest employees (and employers) in the booming information technology industry.

This nation was unique in its ability to resist British occupation and achieve independence. Despite a relatively high amount of poverty due to a large population, over 600 million people live above the poverty line. Indians were the first creators of chess and the land of the Kama Sutra. Most Indians are multilingual, speaking three or more languages, depending on their state and class.

India is also actively engaged in cutting-edge space research. It boasts the largest and most widespread film industry in the world. Additionally, it is known for creating some of the best tasting and healthiest food in the world.

2 Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia in the Pacific Ocean. It lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland (east of China, Korea, Russia) and stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and near Taiwan in the southwest... read more

I would vote for Japan. In terms of inventions and the latest electronic devices, Japan is the leader. Although India claims to be intelligent due to their previous achievements, these are, by far, not acknowledged by others. Some involve stolen stuff... Nonetheless, Japan is an undeniable country with many very intelligent people. It's in the arts, music, science, martial arts, economy... almost all of it. Name it, they have it. Best anime and game creators. Hentai is the best. Very interesting and exciting. What are you waiting for, people? Vote for Japan.

3 Pakistan Pakistan was established in 1947 and is located in South Asia. Islamabad is the capital city of Pakistan. Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar are other major cities of Pakistan. Urdu and English are official languages of Pakistan. World's second highest peak (K-2) and ninth highest peak (Nanga Parbat) are... read more

Pakistanis are some of the world's most intelligent and persevering people. Pakistan is the country with the fastest rate of internet enhancement and is the largest market for cell phones in the world. Our love of technology stems from our high level of intellect in the field and will continue to grow to unfathomable heights. Pakistan is also the country with the fastest-growing literacy rate, up by 250% per year, in contrast to 11.6% for our beloved neighbors in India. Our people and intelligence are brave and overall incredible. Pakistan Zindabad.

4 South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. South Korea claims... read more

South Korea ranks highly in the PISA tests. Their education system is reflective of this. While rigorous, it manages to value the Confucian principle of hard work as a means of getting anywhere! Onward.

5 China China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. China spans five geographical time zones and borders 14 countries, the second most of any country in the world after Russia. Covering an area... read more

China's economic progress has been stunted over the past decade or so. No doubt, their country contains many intelligent people, and the sharing of their ideas has not been inhibited by their government, even though it is a strict communist regime. It consistently places first in the International Math Olympiad.

China has a vast population with a lot of internationally acclaimed physicists, mathematicians, and other highly regarded professionals.

People think that Chinese and other Asians are good at math due to racism, but China was very smart. Everyone was very smart.

6 Singapore Singapore, officially known as the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It is situated approximately one degree of latitude (137 kilometers or 85 miles) north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It borders the Strait of Malacca... read more

Singapore is the smartest country. Hardworking students there make them the best.

Very smart, hardworking population. It's a super diverse island.

7 Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest; it is also... read more

There is no doubt Israeli people are some of the most intelligent, smart, clever, wise, sapient, and sage people in the world!

The country of only 8 million people, and yet it is one of the most successful countries in the world.

Israelis and Jews have some of the highest IQs. They are very inventive and creative, the most advanced in the Middle East.

8 Canada Canada is a country in North America that is next to the United States, and it's the 2nd largest country in the world by area (size is 9.985 million km²). This country has 10 provinces, and 3 territories. Canada became a dominion on July 1, 1867. Its 10 provinces are: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec,... read more

'Great discoveries from great minds came from Canada. It's also the most peaceful country in the world.'

I love this beautiful country. It is the very best!

"The smartest country, without a doubt!"
"Unbeatable intelligence!"

9 Germany Germany was formally united in 1871 under the initiative of Bismarck with King Wilhelm of Prussia as emperor. The previous 'Holy Roman Empire', basically a continuation of the empire of Charlemagne/Karl der Grosse was dissolved in 1806... read more

How can India be number 1 while Germany is number 10? Germany epitomizes the words "advanced" and "highly-technological." Have you seen the architectural buildings of Frankfurt before even ranking Germany in this position? Albert Einstein, one of the most intellectually-thinking scientists history has ever known, is proof that we Germans are the most advanced and intellectual people.

Have you ever heard of the electron microscope, the jet engine, the diesel engine, air-to-air guided missiles, aspirin, the rotary engine, the first computer, the interstate system, the car, the theory of nuclear fission? And let's not forget that they basically ran NASA and put the United States on the moon. Even the new smartphone computer chips were designed by Germans. The list goes on and on...

10 Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled... read more

Taiwan is easily the smartest country on this list. They are very intelligent people, and no other countries can compete. As proof, the CEO of Nvidia is Taiwanese. I will say that India is definitely not the smartest on this list. It is either Taiwan or Japan.

The Contenders
11 United States The United States of America, or the U.S.A. for short, is a federal republic composed of 50 states, 48 of them are contiguous states. There are two other states, Alaska and Hawaii, which are north and south of the contiguous states, respectively. The United States declared its independence from the... read more

First, the question of who has the most intelligent people in the world is a matter of population as well as intelligence. America has more geniuses than Singapore has people! Say goodbye to all the other small countries on this list. Countries are often ranked based on their average intelligence without regard to variation among ethnic groups.

The United States, taken as a whole, has a high, but not world-beating, IQ. Drill down to various ethnic groups and you find the intelligence of those groups is much higher than the American average. The average for the dominant group is as high as any other group in the world. Add to that the fact that the smartest people in the world try to immigrate to America, and you have a very large sub-group of intelligent people.

The intelligence data we have for China records information for only a few of the big urban areas. Extrapolating that intelligence to the whole country is not valid. With hundreds of millions of rural Chinese still living at just barely above the poverty level, it is unlikely that the national intelligence average is as high as it is in Beijing or Shanghai.

India is another candidate, but the situation is muddled by aggressive caste-based affirmative action which keeps the most intelligent people in the country out of key jobs like education or government service. Therefore, many are forced to be entrepreneurial in the private sector. India has many intelligent and industrious people, but they almost all come to America as soon as they get the chance.

Ergo, the clear winner is America! So much winning! You can see it in the space program, the Nobel prizes, the university rankings, the immigration, the technological innovation, the cultural hegemony, and the world-beating corporations. America does have a lot of dumbasses, but it has the most intelligent people of anywhere else in the world.

12 Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities... read more

Switzerland is very advanced when it comes to the medical department. Not to mention, they helped the Jewish people escape Denmark.

13 Italy Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana) is a sovereign state and unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe.

Italy covers an area of 301,338 km². With almost 62 million inhabitants, it is the third most populous EU member state. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares... read more

It's just a matter of knowing history and culture to understand why this peninsula has the highest IQ average in the Western world. A history full of geniuses in every field. A demanding education system and excellent traditional universities are continually penalised by the modern rating system, which places modernity and facilities above academia and knowledge.

Italy has the highest average IQ of all Western countries. It is full of cultural and architectural wonders, and the level of the education system is very brilliant. Italy gave birth to many cultural and political doctrines, not to mention all the great figures that changed the world!

14 Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation (RF), is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, covering over 17,125,191 square kilometres (6,612,073 sq mi), and encompassing one-eighth of Earth's inhabitable landmass. Russia extends across... read more

Digital technologies in Russia are really superlative. They produce a lot of chess grandmasters, and mathematicians and physicists, and the like.

Since Russia is quite competitive, people take education very seriously. Having bad grades in school or university is a no-go!

Russia has quite a lot of really smart people, especially electronic engineers.

15 Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India.

Sri Lanka has a long-standing reputation for brilliance, dating back to ancient times. Its earliest human remains date back about 35,000 years. Sri Lankans were the first to use symbolic characters in the world. The great King Ravana is credited as the first creator of a space traveling machine called 'Dandumonara,' as evidenced in 'Ramayanaya,' written by an Indian.

The pre-historical evidence of Sri Lanka demonstrates the creativity and advanced technology its people possessed in agriculture and construction, some of which remain unsolved in today's technological era. However, the invasion by the Portuguese, Dutch, and especially the British, led to the destruction of Sri Lanka's knowledge and power. These colonizers built markets for their goods, overwhelming the small but strong nation primarily through sheer numbers.

16 Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south. Finland covers an area of 338,455... read more

Although South Korea's and Finland's education systems are polar opposites, one or the other usually gets ranked at least in the top 10, and sometimes in the number 1 spot!

Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world.

It has the best teaching from the government itself.

17 Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a sovereign and unitary monarchy in Northern Europe whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard... read more

There's a reason why Norway is considered the most developed country in the world. Norwegians know how to properly lead their country. Despite Norway's wealth, it is also one of the least corrupt countries in the world, which shows that Norwegians are incorruptible. Norwegians are genuinely some of the most intelligent people in the world.

Norway has a strong innovation culture.

18 Iceland Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its surrounding areas) is home to over 65% of the population. Iceland is the only part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that... read more
19 Austria Austria was Celtic (Hallstadt) then as Noricum, part of the Roman Empire, Alaric, who took over Rome, studied at a monastery near Vienna. In the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Emperors moved to Vienna, then Austria became separate. Medieval documents from Eastern Europe as far as West Ukraine were often... read more

Austria has quite a lot of really smart people. (Similarly to Italy in mechanics and designers)

20 Netherlands The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country located in north-western Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces, and borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the... read more

The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriages.

The Dutch average is pretty high, especially in engineering, science, and economics.

21 Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia.
22 Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and... read more

So, just because there was a war against emus 90 years ago, we are considered dumb? Pretty much everyone who was alive at that point is now dead, and that can't be held against modern-day Aussies. Australians get as much work done as the US despite having a population fourteen times smaller.

Australia is very good at staying out of arguments and minding their own business.

23 Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked unitary sovereign state in East Asia. Its area is roughly equivalent with the historical territory of Outer Mongolia, and that term is sometimes used to refer to the current state.
24 New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
It is situated 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington,... read more

New Zealand is such a peaceful country.

25 Denmark Denmark is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the most populous and politically central constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the North Atlantic Ocean. European Denmark is the southernmost... read more
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